“They want me there training with the reserves,” Costa tells the Daily Mail. “I wouldn’t be allowed access to the first-team dressing room and I would have no contact with the guys. I am not a criminal.

“I don’t think that is fair after all I have done to be treated like that.”

But Costa says of Conte: “I respect him as a great coach. He has done a great job, I can see that. But as a person - no. He is not a coach who is very close with his players. He is very distant. He doesn’t possess charisma.”

And as for the infamous text messages, Costa said: “There are ways of going about it. You don’t do it by text message. You should be direct and honest to someone’s face.